3 ms·
> I no longer trust long chains of reasoning from seemingly self-evident low-level principles. The correct principle is not to "trust" long chains of reasoning
by xenophanes 16y ago
> I no longer trust long chains of reasoning from seemingly self-evident low-level principles.
The correct principle is not to "trust" long chains of reasoning which one doesn't understand in their entirety, especially ones with strong conclusions. The problem here isn't long chains of reasoning (we could hardly do without any of those), but rather failure to hold them to high standards in how understandable they are, and failure to put in the effort to understand the whole thing before accepting it.
- randallsquared 16y agoQuite often a person believes they understand something when they don't. In this case, no amount of exhortation to understand the chain of reasoning will help. Unfortunately, I think there's a false dichotomy here; you have to understand the problem well enough to write useful tests, and if you don't understand a failure mode, you're probably not going to write anything to test it.